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nfs(4)
NAME
nfs, nfs_intro - Network File System (NFS) information
DESCRIPTION
NFS is a facility for sharing files in a heterogeneous environment of
processors, operating systems, and networks. Sharing is accomplished by
mounting a remote file system or directory on a local system and then
reading or writing the files as though they were local.
Sharing file systems has the following advantages:
· Removes the need to copy files across the network from one system to
another
· Provides easier access to remote files
· Reduces the risk of having out-of-date copies of the same file on
different systems
The NFS Environment
NFS is based on the client-server model, in which client systems request
resources from other systems called servers. A server is any host system
or process that provides a network service. A client is any host system or
process that uses services from a server.
A single host, or server, can provide more than one service. Servers are
passive; they do not call clients, they wait for clients to call them.
A one-to-one correspondence between servers, clients, and systems does not
always exist. A system that acts as a server can also act as a client. A
server that exports file systems and directories can also mount remote file
systems and directories exported by other systems, thus becoming a client.
To export a file system or directory is to make it available for NFS
clients to mount remotely on their local systems.
The /etc/exports file defines the NFS file systems and directories that can
be exported. The following table summarizes the distinctions between
client and server systems for NFS mounts.
_____________________________________________________________
Client Server
_____________________________________________________________
Requests a remote mount Responds to the mount request
Reads the /etc/fstab
Checks if the server is known Checks if the client is known
_____________________________________________________________
The client always initiates the remote mount. The server completes the
bindings, subject to access-control rules specific to NFS. Because most
network administration problems occur at bind time, you should know how a
client binds to a server and what access control policy each server uses.
For more information on access control, see the NFS Service section and the
Network Administration: Services manual.
You mount a remote file system by using either the mount command or an
automatic mounting daemon, such as Automount or AutoFS. In addition, you
can use the WebNFS protocol, which bypasses mount and gives direct access
to the WebNFS served file system.
An NFS client selects a specific server from which to mount a file system
or directory. A client can mount file systems and directories from several
different servers.
Network Transport Protocols
NFS can use either the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or User Datagram
Protocol (UDP) protocol. The TCP protocol is best for congested wide area
networks because of its superior retransmit features and congestion
control. The UDP protocol is best in networks where congestion and lost
messages are not a problem because its lower overhead might yield higher
throughput. The client selects the transport protocol in the mount
command.
The NFS Service
Once a remote file system or directory is mounted, it can be used as a
local file system by client programs. Typically, a client mounts one or
more remote file systems and directories at start up time, if lines similar
to the following are in the /etc/fstab file. The mount program reads these
lines when the system starts up:
titan:/usr2 /usr2 nfs rw,bg 0 0
venus:/usr/man /usr/man nfs rw,bg 0 0
The first line in the example shows that the /usr2 directory at system
titan is mounted at local mount point /usr2 when you boot the local system.
The rest of this line describes the mount. See fstab(4) for a description
of the file format.
NFS servers control access to their resources by limiting named file
systems and directories to a specific set of clients with an entry in the
/etc/exports file. The /etc/exports file allows you to limit access to NFS
clients but not to individual remote users. By default in Tru64 UNIX,
mounts can be limited to client superusers only.
The following four programs implement the NFS service:
· portmap
· mountd
· nfsiod
· nfsd
A client's mount request is transmitted to the remote server's mountd
daemon after obtaining its address from portmap. A port mapper is a Remote
Procedure Call (RPC) daemon that maps RPC program numbers of network
services to their UDP or TCP protocol port numbers.
The mountd daemon checks the access permission of the client and returns a
pointer to the file system or directory. After the mount is completed,
access to files and directories at and below that mount point go through
the pointer to the server's NFS daemon (nfsd) using remote procedure calls.
Some file access requests (write-behind and read-ahead) are handled by the
block I/O daemon (nfsiod) on the client.
PC-NFS
The PC-NFS facility provides the benefits of NFS to personal computers on
your network. PC-NFS enables personal computers to share resources and
exchange files, and like NFS, is based on the client-server model. The
client software runs on the personal computer; the server software resides
in the /usr/sbin directory.
For information on the PC-NFS client, see your PC-NFS client documentation.
For instructions on making the PC-NFS server available to clients, refer to
Network Administration: Services.
The NFS Locking Service
The NFS Locking Service (rpc.lockd) allows you to create advisory locks on
files and file regions on local and remotely mounted file systems.
Advisory locks are not enforced.
To make use of the NFS Locking Service, a programmer needs to understand
how to use the fcntl system call or the lockf subroutine. See fcntl(2) and
lockf(3) for programming information.
File locking is a way to manage access to shared files. A process takes
the following steps when locking a file or region of a file:
1. Determines if the file or region within the file is locked
2. Applies a lock if the file or region is not locked
3. Makes the changes to the file or region
4. Unlocks the file or region
The NFS Locking Service coordinates the dispersal of locks to remote file
systems. It communicates with the kernel and status monitor (rpc.statd) of
the local system, as well as with the other lock daemons on the network.
The NFS Locking Service uses a stateless approach to failure recovery. The
fundamental element of this approach is that the status monitor detects
both client and server recoveries. This approach is passive. When the
client status monitor detects that a failed server has reinitialized
(recovered), it notifies the local locking daemon of the failure. The lock
daemon then activates the appropriate recovery mechanism.
If the NFS server fails and the NFS Locking Service is enabled, all the
locks managed by the server's local processes are lost. However, when the
server recovers, the lock manager daemons on the client systems send
reclaim requests for the NFS locks. The server lock manager reestablishes
the previously acquired locks associated with the reclaim requests,
provided the requests are received within the grace period built into the
NFS Locking Service.
During the grace period, the server lock manager honors only reclaim
requests. Once the grace period expires, reclaim requests are no longer
valid, and the server lock manager accepts only new requests. At this
time, the server lock manager cannot reestablish old locks. A user process
whose lock could not be reclaimed is sent a SIGLOST signal. The client
lock manager can create new locks by using the interface primitives in the
fcntl system call or the lockf subroutine.
If a client fails while it is using the NFS Locking Service, then when the
client recovers, the status monitor daemon notifies the appropriate
servers. The server lock manager then releases the locks. The client
applications can then issue new lock requests as part of their recovery
procedure.
Automatic Mounting Daemons
NFS clients can optionally run an automatic mounting daemon, such as
Automount or AutoFS. These daemons are client interfaces that perform
remote mounts automatically, and only when they are needed. If you need to
access a remotely mounted file or directory, the selected daemon mounts it,
keeping it mounted as long as you need it.
The automount and autofsd daemons are told which remote file systems to
mount from a database file called a map. A map lists the remote file
systems that the selected daemon monitors, their locations, and any mount
options. The maps can be shared through NIS.
There are three types of maps:
· Master - Although not required, the master map helps to organize
mounts. If a master map exists, it is read first when the automount
or autofsmount commands are invoked, acting as a pointer to other
maps.
Both commands look for an NIS map called auto.master when invoked.
They can also be instructed to use a local master map.
· Direct - Specifies a key that is the pathname of the mount point, and
a location, which is the location of the file system or directory in
which it resides, specified in this format: server:pathname. For
direct maps, a local mount point is specified as an absolute pathname,
such as /doclib.
· Indirect - Like a direct map, specifies the pathname of the mount
point and the location of the file system on which it resides. For
indirect maps, a local mount point is specified as a simple pathname,
such as docsrc because the whole map is associated with a directory.
For more information these daemons, see automount(8), autofsd(8), and
autofsmount(8). Or, refer to the Network Administration: Services manual.
RELATED INFORMATION
Commands: autofsmount(8), automount(8), nfsstat(8)
Daemons: autofsd(8), automount(8), mountd(8), nfsd(8), nfsiod(8),
rpc.lockd(8), rpc.statd(8)
Files: advfs(4), cdfs(4), fstab(4)
Technical Overview, Network Administration: Services
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